Trump’s orders draw ire of some local officials, advocates
Last week, President Donald Trump issued two executive orders regarding immigration that would construct a wall on the southern border, deport undocumented immigrants and ban immigration and travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
Several locals and elected officials have responded by denouncing the executive order as a poor policy decision.
U.S. Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, issued a statement saying that the president’s executive order on immigration was a major departure from the nation’s long history of welcoming immigrants. He believes it unfairly targets individuals based on their religion and country of origin, hurting both refugees who are fleeing persecution and others who have aided the U.S. military in fighting terrorism.
“This policy has already started tearing apart families and will hurt our national security by giving terrorist groups a significant recruiting tool. We need to stand together to repudiate and overturn this destructive policy,” McNerney said.
The ban outlined in the executive order included refugees and immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
While it is unknown if any local families have been personally affected traveling back from one of the identified countries, local Muslim community leaders believe the ban sends a dangerous message to the nation.
“Executive orders like these raise suspicion and prejudice about Muslims. It affects the whole group and increases harassment and even bullying at schools,” said Malik Rahman, chairman of the Council of Central Valley Muslim organizations.
He pointed to similar actions taken with other immigrant groups that serve as a blight on American history including the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Japanese Internment. None of these policy decisions effectively solved the issues they intended to deal with, Rahman said.
National security is as important to Muslims as it is to any other American, who work and raise their families here, he said. However none of the countries identified as harboring terrorists have ever attacked American soil, he said.
Rahman believes the ban would more than likely serve as a recruiting tool for terrorist groups to show how poorly Muslims are treated in the U.S.
“I’ve lived here for 30 years and Muslims have been treated very well, even better than in other countries,” Rahman said.
Other locally elected officials weighed in on their disagreement with the executive orders, as well.
Assemblyman Jim Cooper, D-Elk Grove, believes that the rollout of the Muslim immigration ban and the executive order regarding the U.S. and Mexican border were poorly executed.
“At the end of the day, it’s bad public policy,” Cooper said.
What may affect others in Lodi is the way in which immigration contributes to local agribusiness, which relies heavily on immigrant farmworkers, such as Lodi’s wine industry, he said.
Cooper pledged that he would do everything in his power within the state of California to challenge these orders.
“This country was built on immigrants. At some point all of us came from other countries,” he said. “It’s tearing our country apart.”
State Sen. Cathleen Galgiani, D-Stockton, has described the ban of Syrian refugees as going against the very fabric of our open and welcoming traditions in America. Galgiani is proud to represent a state that is made up of the contributions of many different cultures coming together.
“Stopping students, business owners and women and children trying to escape certain death in their home country ‘goes against everything we stand for,’ as former Vice President Dick Cheney has, many times over, been quoted in response to such a ban that the President has implemented,” she said. “We need secure borders, but we also need to ensure humane treatment for ordinary people who turn to the leaders of the free world in their times of need.”
Lodi’s own Breakthrough Project for Social Justice is one whose goal is to promote a community of diversity and to eliminate social oppression, racism and bigotry. They also dispute the value in creating an executive order that excludes people from countries from entering the nation.
“We believe that the recent executive order temporarily banning immigration from certain countries and the order to put a halt to refugees from Syria coming to the United States, violate the core values of who we are as a nation and do not make us more secure,” said Breakthrough Project president Lusandra Vincent on behalf of the organization.
In year’s past, the organization has included Muslims and other diverse community representatives to speak at its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration of Unity event.
Despite the divisiveness of the executive orders, Muslims believe they must work hard to counteract ignorance and fear by reaching out with interfaith activities to promote greater understanding, Rahman said.
“This, too, shall pass. Americans are very resilient,” Rahman said. “We will overcome these challenges and continue to keep America great.”